


a simple life

by skintouch



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Winter, happy holidays, missing person, small town
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-15
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:42:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21803896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skintouch/pseuds/skintouch
Summary: jeno, the president’s son and nation’s first love, suddenly disappears without a trace. and renjun, a struggling baby sitter, finds him in his porch.
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun/Lee Jeno
Comments: 5
Kudos: 101





	1. day one

It was an ordinary rainy day in the small town of Gwaseong. It was nearing winter, so the days were much shorter and nights infinitely longer. Renjun liked the sun, liked having sweat drip down his back on a particularly hot and humid summer day, he liked being able to bike around the countryside and deliver milk packages without feeling like the wind can topple him over every passing second.

“This winter is awful,” Renjun says to himself while he’s filling the cats’ bowls. It’s getting colder and Renjun worries about how his electric bill’s going to look like. Two thick blankets just don’t cut it anymore, he has to turn the heater on. For a broke college student in a small town with low paying part time jobs, this winter really  _ is  _ awful. “Isn’t that right, Kkori?”

He gets no response, just a meow (probably from the food), but he takes it. Thinking about his electricity bill so early in the morning prompts him to turn off his TV. He was just about to turn the power off when headlines start popping up on the news,

_ President’s Son Missing _

_ Well-loved Celebrity Lee Jeno Cannot be Found _

_ President Lee: I can only pray to God that my Jeno is safe. _

“That’s a shame,” Renjun lifts his other cat, Rukku, to come watch the news with him. He knows the cat doesn’t give a damn but it makes him feel less lonely. “I hope he’s somewhere safe.”

He grabs his old trusty padded jacket and burgundy scarf and heads out the door. But not without saying goodbye to his children, aka his 2 spoiled cats.

School is boring as usual, but that’s expected from the small town of Gwaseong. The community college has a population of less than a thousand students; it’s quite small, Renjun has to admit. They offer a limited number of courses, so he had to settle on Accountancy. Which, honestly in Renjun’s opinion, is actually the worst job ever created. It doesn’t help that he’s absolutely hope in Math.

Renjun was heading to his last class, Business Math, when Jaemin nudges his side, almost causing him to lose his balance.

Facing his best friend, Renjun rolls his eyes and asks, “What was that for?”

“Someone looks serious.” Jaemin grins at him, pinching his cheek. Annoyed, Renjun swats his hand away and continues walking to his class. He hears Jaemin scoff, followed by “Rude!”

Jaemin eventually catches up to him, despite his rush. Speed walking, Renjun tells Jaemin (who’s now beside him! Damn his advantage of longer legs.) “Man, I love you but I’m gonna be late.”

“I just had Politics, did you know about Lee Jeno?”

“I saw him in the news this morning.” Renjun decides to exclude the part where he was having a one man conversation with his cats. It’s not relevant.

Jaemin, now pumped, almost exclaims, “Man, it’s so crazy how he just disappeared. Professor Song thinks he was kidnapped and they’re just downplaying it.”

At the word ‘kidnapped’, Renjun minimizes his strides. He hopes it isn’t true. “Jaemin, I don’t have time for your conspiracy theories… Unlike you, I still have another class to get to.”

“What if, though! What if it’s true?” Renjun swears if eyeballs could pop out of human skulls, Jaemin’s would. It’s almost ridiculous how he acts so animated, while Renjun lives almost all his waking hours like a Sim waiting for a command.

“Then I hope they’ll find him soon. See you tomorrow,” He’s just in time, Professor Kim looks like he’s just about to start the lecture. Renjun finds an empty seat, which was easy considering his class is only about 20 kids, and tries to focus on the lesson. Key word: tries, because a large part of his mind is consumed by the mystery surrounding Lee Jeno.

How could he just disappear? He’s too well-known. On top of being the President’s son, he’s been on most big budget films in the last decade as a child actor,  _ that _ child actor. He’s well-known and well loved. Almost everyone in the country knows who he is, Renjun’s even read online that his fans dedicated a whole forest for Jeno on his 18th birthday.  _ Which is crazy _ , he thinks.

The class ends and he says his goodbyes to his few friends, and they go their separate ways. Being college students, their days typically don’t end there, they have different part time jobs to attend to. After school, he goes straight to his neighbor’s house to baby sit their twin toddlers. One of his friends, Xiaojun, works at a bakery, while another, Jisung, works as a gas boy at one of their town’s only three gas stations.  _ It’s that small.  _

Renjun sets his bag down his couch and immediately calls for his cats. “Kkori, Rukku...”

They hear his call and make their way to their  _ daddy _ while he fills up their bowls. He sighs, it’s been a long day of studying and the twins really tired him out (they wouldn’t sleep!), so he opts to skip dinner. It’s only 10 pm, but he’s exhausted and his feet hurt and all he’s thinking about is how soft his cheap pillows are going to feel.

So Renjun makes his way to his bed immediately after changing his clothes, and dozes off. He doesn’t dream much, but he is woken up by a knock on his door.

At first he thought it was Jaemin on a drunken whim, because that’s happened before (but if you ask Jaemin, he’ll insist Renjun imagined it.) But then Jaemin and he have a special way of knocking,  _ one-two- pause- one-two-three _ ; even piss drunk Jaemin remembers it, so unless Jaemin had selective memory erasure, it’s definitely not him.

His house lacks a lot of things, a quality heating system, continuous flow of water, and even a well functioning shower head. But Renjun could do with all of those. He doesn’t want them as much a he wants a _fucking_ peephole on his front door.

It’s ridiculous that his door doesn’t have it, so whenever someone knocks, Renjun always takes about 15 seconds extra to contemplate whether to open it and or grab a weapon.

But he’s too sleepy to grab a dull knife. He has no strength to grab a heavy baseball bat (not that he has one). So he opens his door with courage, the most that he can muster, to a visibly shaking boy clad in dark clothing.

“ _Hi_ ,”


	2. day one point five

Renjun, _of course_ , lets him in. He makes him a cup of hot chocolate too.

The boy sheds his hoodie to reveal a clean white shirt underneath. He looks around Renjun's place, there's really not much to it, a small well-kept living room with an old couch and a TV, a (barely) 4 seater dining set in a tiny kitchen that only has three appliances: a stove, a beaten down microwave and a white fridge. He sits opposite of Renjun at the dining table, where his cup of hot chocolate is placed, steaming in all its glory. It's nearing 1 in the morning, and Renjun's getting sleepy. He’s suddenly reminded of the short sprint he had to do after school because he got a text that the kids were dismissed early. He yawns, and Jeno takes notice.

He stops mid-sip, eyes widened like he just learned that he forgot to introduce himself. "Sorry. I'm-"

"I know who you are," Renjun cuts him off. He observes Jeno's reaction, the way he visibly swallows and puts down his cup. Did Jeno expect the residents of this small town to be completely cut off from civilization? He’s if not the most loved, then one of the most loved celebrities in South Korea. His _disappearance_ is dominating news outlets right now, no doubt even the news papers. It’s no mystery that Renjun knows him.

"You do?" There's an underlying question, _and what happened?_

Renjun answers both. "Yeah."

Jeno scratches his head, seemingly uncomfortable. He takes another sip from his cup and asks Renjun, "Aren't you gonna ask me why I left?"

"You left?"

"I did." After it was complete silence. They weren't looking at each other, but they can hear their breathing. Finally, Renjun cracks and sighs.

"No," Renjun says.

Jeno, taken aback, furrows his brows in confusion. "What?"

"I'm not going to ask you why you left," Renjun begins to stand up, rather slowly, as he's sleepier than ever. He turns to Jeno, making eye contact, and smiles at him. "I'm not gonna ask you anything." 

_Anything you don't want to answer._ The younger boy sends a smile back and looks down, like he's shy. He shouldn't be, Renjun thinks.

"I have extra blankets, if you want."

At the mention of blankets, Jeno looks up at the older boy. "You'd let me crash?"

Renjun repeats himself, "If you want."

What he gets in response is a nod and a smile from Jeno. He goes off to his bedroom (that's honestly just two steps from the "kitchen") and brings out spare blankets.

He lays the blankets and a pillow on the couch, all while knowing Jeno's watching his every move. Jeno doesn't say anything, but Renjun knows he's grateful.

"Thank you."

Renjun nods and starts to go back to his room, only to see Jeno hanging. _Oh. I haven't introduced myself._ "Renjun. Huang Renjun."

"Thank you, Renjun."

The next morning was Sunday, so Renjun didn't have school, just babysitting. It was an excuse to wake up a little bit later, and he does, thanks to the commotion last night. He wakes up not to his cats, but to the sound of giggling coming from the living room. Speaking of the commotion.

He decides to go to the source and sees Jeno playing with Kkori and Rukku. Rukku purrs as Jeno runs his hand down his back, and Kkori, ever jealous of attention, meows to get Jeno's. She lies on her back then rolls over, which makes Jeno giggle even more.

The whole thing unfolds all while Renjun's leaning on the wall outside his bedroom, observing the three with a big smile on his face. Kkori sees him and meows, and only then did Jeno notice Renjun. The older boy stands up, embarrassed that he was caught watching. He clears his throat.

On the other hand, the younger boy smiles sheepishly, equally embarrassed. Like a child caught trying to reach the candy basket after halloween to have some sweets. Renjun's the first to say something, "They like you."

Jeno smiles and continues petting Rukku, causing the chub to purr more. "They're cute."

He agrees with a hum almost immediately. Going over to the three, Renjun introduces the cats. "The white one with a short tail is Kkori, this one with orange spots is Rukku."

"Cute names."

Renjun starts to feel proud, "Thanks! They're rescue."

"That's nice," Renjun found Rukku at an alley during a rainy day and he couldn't bare to pass by him without doing anything. Kkori however, was sent to him after Jaemin found the poor malnourished cat at a pet shop in Seoul (in the rare times they travelled there).

So he relays all information to Jeno, who politely nods all throughout. It was a peaceful conversation until Jeno's belly grumbles. They looked at each other like Raven Symone having a vision, and laugh. "Alright, let me make some eggs. Can't guarantee they'll taste good though,"

"Anything would be perfect. Thank you."

Renjun makes his way to the kitchen, Rukku following closely by. "You don't have to thank me for _everything_."

But Jeno insists, "Still."


	3. day two

** jeno? **

_ thanks for the food. i’m with the cats right now _

** the kind man **

_ i told you not to thank me for everything :/ _

_ oh! how are they? :D _

** jeno? **

_they're very friendly_

_and nice_

_like you_

** the kind man **

_..._

_thanks_

_i'll be back at 7_

_will you be there?_

** jeno? **

_will that be okay_

** the kind man **

_ don't be silly _

_ of course _

** jeno? **

_ i'll be here :) _

They haven't talked about it. Renjun just _assumed_ that Jeno's free to walk away from his tiny, humble home any minute of the day. He _is_ , but Renjun just got confirmation that he's not going to. At least until tonight. The temporary situation (Renjun knows it exactly, _precisely_ ) is disappointing because Jeno really is starting to grow on the cats (and on Renjun, but he won't admit it), so much so that they didn't even mind him when he left at noon to do homework with Jaemin at his house.

Speaking of Jaemin, when Renjun looks up from his phone, he sees Jaemin with a smug look on his face. His eyebrow cocked and his lips in a smirk. Renjun must've been smiling while texting Jeno.

"Sorry,"

Jaemin inches closer to snoop on Renjun's phone, to which Renjun immediately draws closer to him. "Who are you texting?"

"No one." _Even if I did tell you, you wouldn't believe it._

The younger boy squints his eyes, pressing deeper. "Are you dating someone?"

_Dating someone? What, smiling at your phone automatically equates to texting your lover?_ Renjun can't believe him. He rolls his eyes, "Shut up, Jaemin. I'm not dating anyone."

He chooses to go back to doing their Calculus problem set due in 2 days, but since Jaemin's an annoying little shit, he doesn't let it go. "Why are you disappointed?"

Renjun doesn't mind his question because it's _ridiculous_. He's not disappointed, not one bit. They (his chaos of a friend group) always found it weird how he's never dated anyone, or even grew romantically fond of somebody. It's not weird, it's... _normal_. For Renjun.

But obviously not for his friend. "It's time, Renjun! This is the prime of our youth! We should be living exciting lives, dating, clubbing, having fun!"

Clubbing sounds the farthest from fun Renjun could ever imagine. Those dramas Jaemin has grown keen on over the past school year really have to stop giving him the wrong, unrealistic ideas on how life truly is. It's boring. Methodical. Repetitive. Just how Renjun likes it to be. "We don’t live in Seoul, Jaemin. Stop watching those unrealistic dramas."

Renjun hears Jaemin mutter _always the bore_ under his breath which earns him a smack on the back. “Let's just get back to work. Where were we?”

"I'm _home,_ "

Exactly at 7, as promised, Renjun opens his door. He's still getting used to having someone else in the house, but he doesn't think he'll ever get used to the President's son, in basketball shorts, playing with his cats. He also doesn't think he'll ever get used to the smile Jeno throws at him whenever he wants to. "Hi!"

Renjun takes a whiff of the air, he smells something good. "Is that ramen?"

Jeno looks at the dining table, then back at Renjun, apologetically. "Yeah. I got kind of hungry, I hope you don't mind."

"It's fine," You don't need to apologize or thank me everytime. You don't need to. "Can I have some?"

"Of course!" At that, Jeno perks up. "I cooked it just before you got here, it should still be hot."

The older boy's stomach grumbles. "I'll just get my own chopsticks."

He practically prances to the sink, where he keeps all the utensils. It's right next to the tall cupboard connected to the wall and ceiling, that's left _ajar_. He opens it a little bit and sees that it's unlike its normal appearance, completely the opposite. It's always almost empty and sad looking, but now it's... _packed_.

Turning to face Jeno who's opening the lid of the ramen pot out of impatience and hunger, "Jeno!"

Surprised, Jeno drops the lid, the lid clacking and calling the cats' attention. "What?"

"What..." He points to the cupboard, "What is all this?"

"Oh." Jeno sinks in his chair, looking bashful. "I went to a small grocery a few hours ago... I saw that your _pantry_ was ... kind of empty."

Kind of empty? Last time Renjun checked, it had 2 cans of SPAM and a lone onion. He frowns, "You didn't have to."

" _I wanted to_."

He was touched, so he goes over to Jeno to hug him. Jeno flinches, but in the end sinks right into his arms. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Jeno smiles at him and he goes to his seat opposite Jeno, clicking his chopsticks out of excitement for the food.

He suddenly remembers that Jeno told him he  went  to a nearby grocery store,  _ alone _ . It sinks in, "Did you wear a hat?"

Jeno was portioning food for the two of them, having Renjun's bowl in his hand and chopsticks in the other. "Hm?"

"When you went to the grocery store."

"Oh." Jeno finishes scooping the noodles, "No, I didn't."

"Not even a mask?" The younger boy just shakes his head. Renjun takes a bite, as expected, instant ramen tastes heavenly. Bad for you, but heavenly nonetheless. Once he's done chewing, he asks Jeno, "No one recognized you?"

The younger boy was in the middle of chewing, but when he's done he explains, "I don't think so. There weren't much people and the cashier didn't really look at me. She was too occupied with a book, I think. Kinda old too."

Oh, it's Hyesook, Renjun's neighbor. He heard from some that she turned 78 this year. She wouldn't recognize Jeno of course, she barely watches TV; prefers the radio like the rest of their generation. _That's fortunate_ . He smiles, "Congratulations."

"Thank you," Jeno bows his head, now smiling too. "I'm very proud of it."

Then they spent their second night together. Jeno showered afterbthey ate, changing into another pair of basketball shorts and the same dark hoodie he came in with. As usual, Jeno slept on the couch, but Renjun feels kind of bad for him. He wants to offer his bed to him and sleep on the couch instead, but he decides not to. Maybe some other time.

_If he's still staying here tomorrow night._


End file.
